Slovene Philanthropy has been running the Programme of Intergenerational Cooperation since 2006. We started with the project Fruits of Society, within which we encouraged volunteering and connecting schools and high schools with organizations that include the elderly.
We continued with establishing intergenerational community centres which operate as business units of Slovene Philanthropy in 2008. We established six so far: in Murska Sobota, Žalec, Črnomelj, Metlika, Vipava and Logatec; we are partially running the programme in Ljubljana as well. More than 10.000 people visit the centres yearly. The centres are named Houses Fruits of Society and each of them was assigned a fruit that represents it best in a local and regional sense. After all, we, the people, are Fruits of Society. Some more, some less mature, but all of us equally important.
Intergenerational community centres are open for all the residents in a local community. They offer space for activities, which encourage cooperation, the transfer of knowledge and understanding between generations. Within this, we create opportunities for socialising and active learning in all periods and situations of life. The activities are aimed at including the most vulnerable groups of people and are mainly carried out by employees and volunteers. With that we offer them support and assistance in everyday life with the purpose of preventing loneliness and exclusion. Visitors therefore strengthen their social networks and spend quality time together.
Within our centres we open numerous debates on different current and eternal topics, on the meaning of solidarity between different generations and discrimination, and in that way we encourage discussion about these topics in the community.
